First Thing for Baby

As you may know, I am about to pop out a baby in less than a month. We did not find out if it is a boy or a girl, so while I have been really wanting to make something for the little one, I have been at a bit of a loss. What could I make that would be fairly genderless, yet still cute? I came across this pattern for baby pants and thought I could use somewhat gender-neutral fabrics and then add a little something in case they end up being for a little girl.

I started with a linen that was left over from the lining of K's backpack if I am not mistaken, as well as a lime green with white elephant print that was left over from the big quilt I made a year ago. It turns out pants for babies are teeny tiny and you really don't need much fabric at all.

The first step is probably the most challenging - pinning the gusset to the back of the pants and sewing it on without any folds or weird bits. It took a lot of pins and longer than I usually would have spent sewing two pieces of fabric together.

That being said, the back turned out perfect, so I suppose it was worth it.

The next step was to sew the front on starting with the crotch area. This, again, took a good amount of pins and patience, but worked out well.

Next was to sew up the sides - straight lines and took no time at all!

Finally, you do the hems and the waist and you're done. While the gusset took a tad bit of time, these were some quick pants to do up. I suppose given that they are so small, they really shouldn't take too long.

 

My final step, however, was to make something to girl-ify them - naturally I settled on a matching bow. I cut out two rectangles of the elephant fabric and folded/ironed them up. For the bigger piece which actually became the bow, I folded all four sides in a bit and then sewed it closed. For the little one, I sewed it shut on the long sides only by folding it like bias tape.

Then I squished the big rectangle together, wrapped the little one around the center, and sewed it together.

I was originally planning on making this little bow into a (lack of) hair-bow to wear with a little onesie and the pants.

I took the above photo, but didn't like how it was difficult to actually see the bow becuase of the lighting. So, I put the bow on the pants to take another photo for you lovlies.

It turns out, I think this will be the winning style. I think the little bow sewn to the pants would be even cuter than a bow on the head, particularly given that if this one is anything like K, s/he will have no hair for the first year of life. A bow on a plain head might look a bit goofy. So, there you have it! The above is the girl version and below is the boy version.

Pretty cute!!